Harris says she’s ‘feeling very good about Pennsylvania’ during campaign stop in battleground state
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(JOHNSTOWN, Penn.) — Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters she was “feeling very good about Pennsylvania” while campaigning on Friday in the key battleground state, even as both supporters and detractors came out for the occasion.
In an unannounced stop to Classic Elements, a cafe and bookstore in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Harris told reporters, “I am feeling very good about Pennsylvania, because there are a lot of people in Pennsylvania who deserve to be seen and heard.”
“I will be continuing to travel around the state to make sure that I’m listening as much as we are talking,” Harris said. “And ultimately, I feel very strongly that — got to earn every vote, and that means spending time with folks in the communities where they live. And so that’s why I’m here.”
She added, “We’re going to be spending a lot more time in Pennsylvania.”
Harris and former President Donald Trump remain locked in a tight race in Pennsylvania, with 538’s presidential polling average for Pennsylvania showing less than a percentage point between the candidates as of Friday afternoon.
Both campaigns will look to win the state, which Biden won by about a 1% margin in 2020 — four years after Trump won by slightly less 1%.
Before she spoke with the media, Harris chatted with the store’s owner while Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and his spouse Giselle Fetterman looked on.
Harris spoke about a small business owner neighbor she had growing up who was a “second mother” to her. Harris also praised the staff for their work.
When Harris went into the main seating area of the cafe, a patron called out, “Kamala, we love you!” to which Harris responded, “I appreciate you, thank you” to applause and comments of “Madame Vice President.”
Speaking to the patrons, Harris said, “We’re doing it together. But I wanted to come to Johnstown … I wanted to come and visit this small business — you know, a lot of the work I care about is about building community, right? There are many ways to do that … one of them is our small businesses.”
But Harris encountered both supporters and detractors outside of the bookstore.
Near the bookstore, people behind temporary fencing held signs that were both supportive of Harris and supportive of Trump.
One person could be heard chanting “USA!” while another chanted “We’re not going back” — which can often be heard at her campaign events.
And one person could be seen holding up a sign that said, “Even my dog hates Trump.”
Earlier, when she landed in Johnstown, there was a large crowd gathered at the airport hanger; Harris was greeted by the Fettermans and Johnstown Mayor Frank Janakovic.
As the motorcade drove to the bookstore, some healthcare workers lined a street holding up middle fingers and a sign that said, “Harris sux.”
The visit came ahead of a Friday evening rally Harris is set to hold in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and amid a battleground-state swing by Harris, running mate Gov. Tim Walz, and others launched after the ABC News presidential debate on Tuesday.
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled a sweeping economic agenda on Friday, vowing to ease inflation, fix the housing market and slash taxes for middle-income families.
The plans include eye-catching proposals such as a ban on grocery price gouging and a $25,000 subsidy for first-time homebuyers.
Economists who spoke to ABC News offered up a mixed assessment of the newly released agenda. Some experts lauded the effort to slow rising costs and restrain corporate power in key sectors, while others criticized what they consider a misguided attempt to override market forces that risks worsening the nation’s debt.
Less than three months before the presidential election, the economy tops lists of voter concerns. Growth is slowing but remains solid. Price increases have cooled dramatically but remain higher than the Federal Reserve’s target level.
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Here’s what to know about how economists assess three key pillars of Harris’ economic plan: fighting inflation, recalibrating the housing market and cutting taxes for families.
Fighting inflation
The campaign aims to rein in price increases for everything from groceries to prescription drugs to homes.
Harris points to the market power of large corporations as a key cause of rapid price increases for essential goods, saying companies use their outsized role in a given market to raise prices without fear of a competitor offering a comparable product at a more affordable price. Consumers, the Harris campaign says, are left with nowhere to turn.
The grocery industry exemplifies the damage caused by mega corporations, according to the campaign. “Extreme consolidation in the food industry has led to higher prices that account for a large part of higher grocery bills,” the campaign said in a statement on Friday.
Grocery store profit margins surged in 2021 and rose even higher two years later, even after price increases had begun to cool, a Federal Trade Commission study in March showed.
To control the price hikes, Harris proposed a federal ban on price gouging for food and groceries. While details remain limited, the plan could resemble price-gouging bans in place in 37 states, which prohibit a sudden spike in prices for scarce goods.
Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collective, in a statement on Friday echoed the Harris campaign’s criticism of the broken market for groceries.
“Price gouging, price fixing, and just plain profiteering are rampant in the food and grocery sector,” Owens said. “There is still more the government can do to reduce food and grocery concentration and stop the cheating that is costing families dearly.”
Some economists, however, rejected the notion of corporate power as an important cause of inflation, saying a limit on price hikes could result in shortages of goods.
“Most of the inflation over the past few years has been caused by increases in costs,” Steven Hamilton, a professor of economics at George Washington University, told ABC News. Hamilton acknowledged that price increases for some groceries may owe to corporate concentration, but said it doesn’t stand as a primary cause of overall inflation.
“You have to be careful not to cherry pick,” Hamilton said.
Michael Jones, an economics professor at the University of Cincinnati, said a government-imposed ceiling on prices could cause stores to run out of goods in times of scarcity.
“If there’s a restriction on the prices that companies can charge for products, they simply won’t supply them,” Jones told ABC News.
Fixing the housing market
In recent years, the housing market has suffered from a convergence of high mortgage rates and elevated home prices, shutting out prospective buyers with high costs.
The Harris campaign proposed restoring affordability through a combination of boosting home supply and easing the price pressures for some homebuyers.
Plans to grow the supply of homes include a tax incentive for companies that build starter homes and affordable rental homes, the Harris campaign said. The campaign’s plans to aid buyers feature a $25,000 subsidy for first-time homebuyers.
Economists who spoke to ABC News lauded the Harris campaign’s effort to boost housing supply, but offered differing opinions about the support for homebuyers.
“The reason that housing prices have gone up in most places in America is that supply is limited,” Hamilton, of George Washington University, told ABC News. “That commitment to increase supply is rare among politicians but it’s something that economists should praise.
Some economists said the subsidies for homebuyers threaten to undermine the price cuts achieved through additional supply. If prospective buyers know they’ll receive a subsidy of $25,000 from the government, they’ll boost their asking price by that amount, said Jones, of the University of Cincinnati. As a result, he added, home prices will rise.
“If they have $25,000 more to spend on a house, they’ll submit bids up to $25,000 higher for the home,” Jones said. “That policy in particular is a bad idea because it won’t bring the price of housing down.”
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said the combination of supply growth and homebuyer support could work effectively as long as Harris focuses on boosting supply before she bolsters consumers.
“You’ve got to put the horse before the cart,” Zandi said. “It’s a matter of timing.”
Cutting taxes for middle-class families
The Harris campaign said it aims to keep some money in middle-class consumers’ pockets by reducing their tax burden.
The plans include a restoration of the expanded child tax credit of $3,600 per child that expired in 2022. Harris also proposed an additional, new $6,000 child tax credit for families with a child in the first year of life.
The tax cuts for families drew wide support from economists who spoke to ABC News, though some emphasized the importance of accompanying those proposals with revenue-raising measures that will offset the tax reductions.
“A child tax credit expansion is fantastic and I would fully support it, as long as they find way to pay for it,” said Hamilton, of George Washington University. “This is a policy targeted toward people who really need it, and families who really need it.”
For its part, the Harris campaign said on Friday that it would safeguard the federal government’s financial health, in part by increasing taxes on wealthy individuals as a means of offsetting middle-class tax cuts.
Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, will “fulfill their commitment to fiscal responsibility, including by asking the wealthiest Americans and largest corporations to pay their fair share,” the campaign said.
Zandi, of Moody’s Analytics, voiced support for the tax cut but also urged caution about the potential loss of tax revenue. If the tax credits end up adding to the national debt, it would undermine the savings for consumers by risking an increase in overall inflation.
“I don’t think you can do anything without it being paid for,” Zandi said. “That would be counterproductive.”
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump said on Thursday he will not take part in any more debates ahead of the 2024 election.
In a post on his social media platform, Trump argued that Vice President Kamala Harris could’ve accepted an offer to debate on Fox News on Sept. 4, or could’ve negotiated a second debate before the ABC News debate.
“She was a no-show at the Fox Debate, and refused to do NBC & CBS. KAMALA SHOULD FOCUS ON WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE DURING THE LAST ALMOST FOUR YEAR PERIOD. THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” Trump posted on his social media platform. ” Trump wrote.
Harris had challenged Trump to another showdown immediately after Tuesday’s matchup in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Harris took the stage at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, just after Trump’s announcement. Although she did not cite Trump’s social media post, Harris said he and she “owe it to the voters to have another debate.”
“Two nights ago, Donald Trump and I had our first debate, and I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate,” Harris said. “Because this election and what is at stake could not be more important. On Tuesday night, I talked about issues that I know matter to families across America, like bringing down the cost of living, investing in America’s small businesses, protecting reproductive freedom and keeping our nation safe and secure.”
“But that’s not what we heard from Donald Trump,” she continued. “Instead, it was the same old show, that same tired playbook that we have heard for years, with no plans for how he would address the needs of the American people because, you know, it’s all about him, it’s not about you. Well, folks, I said it then, I say it now, it’s time to turn the page.”
ABC News’ Will McDuffie, Gabrielle Abdul-Hakim and Fritz Farrow contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The act of certifying the presidential election results will now be given the highest security designation the federal government makes available, the Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday.
Jan. 6, 2025, will now be designated a National Special Security Event (NSSE) by the Department of Homeland Security — on par with events like the Democratic and Republican national conventions. This designation allows for “significant resources from the federal government, as well as from state and local partners, to be utilized in a comprehensive security plan,” according to the agency.
“National Special Security Events are events of the highest national significance,” Eric Ranaghan, the special agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Dignitary Protective Division, said in a statement. “The U.S. Secret Service, in collaboration with our federal, state, and local partners are committed to developing and implementing a comprehensive and integrated security plan to ensure the safety and security of this event and its participants.”
An NSSE is designated by the Secretary of Homeland Security and is led by the Secret Service.
Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser made a request for the designation, according to the agency.
Jan. 6 is a formality, but the last time Congress attempted to certify the results of the presidential election, a group of supporters of former President Donald Trump breached the Capitol in an attempt to stop it.
The results of Jan. 6 resulted in hundreds of prosecutions by the Justice Department and criminal charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith against Trump, who has denied any wrongdoing.
